Seafood COOL has failed

The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) says mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for seafood isn't delivering its promised benefits. According to FMI, COOL hasn't increased sales of U.S. seafood, while the supermarket industry's cost to comply with the law is up to “10 times higher” than USDA's estimate.

FMI said, “Proponents of mandatory COOL are nonetheless urging Congress to implement the law for produce, meat and peanuts sooner than Sept. 30, 2008. This move would be extremely unwise given the industry's 2½ years of experience labeling seafood under this law.”